Jeremy Paxman hosts final Newsnight: 'Thank you for watching. Goodbye'

The 63-year-old presenter, who had led the current affairs series for 25 years, bowed out in a show that featured interviews with London mayor Boris Johnson on a tandem bicycle, former Labor spin doctor Peter Mandelson and ex-Home Secretary Michael Howard.

Johnson insisted that the scheme was a "howling success" and later said of Paxman: "[A] lot of people are very sad to see him go because he has kept the nation entertained, if not always awake, for many, many years."

Howard was famously interviewed by Paxman in 1997 when the presenter asked him 12 times why he threatened to overrule prisons chief Derek Lewis.

Howard made an appearance on Wednesday's show and Paxman again asked him: "Did you?" to which Howard jested: "No Jeremy, I didn't. But feel free to ask another 11 times."